"Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him."
Luke 17:3-4
Part 2
Yesterday we saw that when a brother or sister offends us, we are to go and talk this over with them. If they repent, we forgive them. In fact, as believers, our attitude needs to be like Jesus, ever-ready to forgive.
Yesterday:
“Take heed to yourselves:”
“If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him;”
“And if he repent, forgive him.”
What a great word is this word “repent.” It is “to think differently about.” It is to “reconsider” what I’ve done and to feel a “moral compunction” to change and make it right.1 It’s talking about genuine “repentance” not just a flippant “oh, sorry….”
These are powerful words. The grammar of “if he repent, forgive him” shows that at this point you have gone to him, he has not repented yet, but at the point, he does repent, if he does repent, he will be forgiven. We need Jesus’ spirit of mercy and quickness to forgive those who wrong us.
What do you do about a brother who is a slow learner? You know, the brother who seems to always be tripping over his own feet when it comes to causing offenses to others. At this point in Jesus’ illustration, He turns the story on its side and adds His thoughts.
“And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day,”
Here’s where Jesus’ words are so vital for us. What happens when the brother sins against us again, the same day? Or again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, on the same day? We can probably handle one trespass in a day from a brother, but what about multiple sins against us in a day, by the same person?
On another day Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). This sounds very generous of Peter seeing that the Jewish rule of forgiving others was “three times” (see Amos 1:6).
Jesus is fielding Peter’s question in Matthew 18:21, from the standpoint of the offended person. Peter wants to know what God expects of him when he is dealing with someone treating him wrong.
“The man who asks such a question does not really know what forgiveness means” (Plummer).
But at least Peter wants to know the right thing to do. The fact that Jesus took the time to teach His disciples how to be forgiving shows us the importance of doing this well in God’s sight. As we can see the issue isn’t how many times I’m wronged, so much as it is whether or not I will be forgiving.
Tomorrow we will see Jesus illustrate the principle of forgiveness.
How’s your heart? Are you a forgiver, or a grudge holder? It matters to our Lord. Keep reading tomorrow.
1. “Repent,” the Wave Parallel Bible, iPad application.
2. A.T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament, the electronic version in eSword. Robertson quotes Plummer here.